Last Friday (25th May) the P4-7 pupils of Saltoun Primary took to the streets of East Saltoun (along with their parents and assorted members of the Ranger Service).
The reason? Well, we were looking for nocturnal wildlife, specifically bats. We met at the school and set up a moth trap in the playground, the younger members of the group then played a couple of games of “Bat & Moth”. This is a brilliant game which not only demonstrates the principles of echolocation, but more importantly involves running around in a blindfold. Then, it was off to explore the village.
When we set off it was still a little early to see any bats, so we walked around the woods and village and looked at places where we thought bats might be roosting. There was also a superb sunset to admire. Eventually, we spotted our first bat in the churchyard – a lone pipistrelle. We were equipped with bat detectors, which translated the bat’s ultrasonic clicks into sounds which we could all hear.
The group then headed off to Strawberry Wood and the small pond next to it. This was when the real bat action started! Loads of pipistrelles were feeding at the woodland edge and over the water – hoovering up the various flying insects. A real feeding frenzy was going on – very entertaining for us, not so good for the moths!
So, a big night out indeed. Well done to everyone for showing such patience while the bats woke up -it was well worth the wait in the end.
A pipistrelle bat
We saw lots of these.
Count Dracula
We saw none of these.
